6 days and I’m still surviving on face to face conversation, socializing with friends/family and a DVD of the season 3 of the Office

* My baby is 10 weeks old and still inside my finance’s belly

* Including the playoffs and the Super Bowl the Giants are 5-0 in 2008

* I’ve returned to my parent’s empty nest ( future wife and 2 cats in tow) last weekend. Free food and shelter = Pro, Fox News on a loop on the living room T.V= Con

* The Tommy Messano radio show on the World Combat League Radio. I’ll take a shot at it.

* Working at a Scottsdale Ranch for 25 hours a week to the pay the bills is what it is. Part baby sitter at times part servant. I’m getting good at not rolling my eyes. Thank God all the people who work there are very cool. Like Happy Days Fonzie Cool

* Just to have them down in witting UFC 88 Saturday September 6th predictions Liddell, Henderson, Franklin, Marquardt, and Kim. Zero upsets. Bet on it!

* Rock Band 2 9/23/08, next baby Doc appointment 9/22/08, Birthday 9/28/83……. Heyyyyy things are looking up this month

link above is a article I wrote that was picked up by espn.com on Friday August 15.

- My cat need ssurgery?? What the hell vet. Kit Kat will be going under the knife on Monday keep her in your prayers

and My girlfriend and I are having a baby. Lol yes me of all people is now 9 months away from being a a proud papi. i was floored when i saw that pregnancy test. Its a happiness that is tough to describe and i wouldn’t change a thing, i’m so excited. I was singing Journey on the car radio on my way to my dad’s office that day. Steve perry ain’t got nothing on a soon to be Dad

….. and the Mortgage company finally hooked up us with a house. What a flipping crazy week. (That should be big news)

MMA week in review

_ the best pound for pound fighter in the world Fedor lived up to his hype. My 1st thought after watching the match late Saturday night was that “Fedor gave Tim Sylvia the Zulu treatment”

Fedor treated the two time UFC heavyweight champ like a sparring partner. Amazing performance. 28-1-1 in combat sports there is still nothing like a exciting heavyweight. hey boxing you remember that?

- UFC 185 champ Anderson Silva looked like he was fighting his little brother while he toyed with fringe top 20 LHW James Irvin. I think the media is blowing this win up way to much. Ok, he beat a guy who isn’t even top 20? That match was a lay-up for Silva.

MMA weekend preview

- Watch Elite XC second shot at Network TV Saturday on CBS. Its a solid card that should appeal to the underground hardcore MMA fan, lets see if it translates to a mainstream audience.

Hey Tommy what’s your opinion on that? Well I’m glad you asked.

_ I typed this blog before I told my parents that me and my gf are expecting. Hope they aren’t secretly web savvy, they do a real good job of hiding it.

- Do they still have freestyle Fridays on BET’s 106 and Park?

_ Man I’m old.

-If the Sopranos and the Godfather have taught me anything its that if you got big news its best to let it out over some Pie and antipasto salad. Thats my plan for my parents tonight. Wish me luck.

Technology and special effects have made it possible for comic book characters from the DC and Marvel universe to translate to the silver screen.

Here’s my top 5 from the last ten years after just watching the Dark Knight twice this weekend. Hmmm who’s going to be number 1? ( Capitan American circa 1990) sorry Matt Salinger fans. wiki that guy

5. Hellboy 2005

very underrated and any hardcore comic book fan should eat this movie up

4. The Fantastic 4 2005

Say what? This movie got overlooked but i felt it was good introduction to one of the best comic book series ever. The sequel, ahh not so much. Dr. Doom, let it go.

3. X-Men II: X2 2003

Ok, its the sequel we’ve been introduced to all the main characters now its time to kick ass and blow stuff up. Bryan Singer’s last go around directing it before he switched up to go revive the Superman franchise

Note: there is a huge gap between the number 3 movie on this list and 4 thru 5

2. Spider-Man 2002

That’s how its done. Great story. well casted. Enough action and a cliffhanger ending. The series slowly lost life in its subsequent incarnations, but this one set-up the big box office pay days of the next 2 films.

1. The Dark Knight 2008

I don’t know if anyone expected this going in. Just go back and watch Batman Begins, it tells a good back story, but may have been too plodding for most causal fans.

The Dark Knight just blows the other 4 films out of the water. The opening scene sets the dark tone and for a PG-13 film the directer and writers didn’t hold back. get some pop corn a big cold drink and enjoy this summer blockbuster.

Note: i have not seen Iron Man or Hell Boy 2 yet.

leave your comments and top 5 below.

Let’s starts with a quick look at the MMA week that was and a look ahead to the weekend.

· ** Quinton “Rampage” Jackson former UFC light heavy champion needs a hug and a vacation. On Tuesday Jackson went on a “Rampage” (who was the lucky MMA writer who coined that phrase 1^st) across Costa Mesa, CA including felony evasion of a police officer, reckless driving, and a hit-and-run.

All this while driving a custom monster truck with a picture of himself in fight trunks and a Mr. T chain wrapped around his neck ( man what a cool pose) plastered on the driver’s side door. I think everybody in America needs to take a personal day where they get to recklessly drive a monster truck with their face painted on it. Now that’s a stress reliever.

· - *** The UFC’s parent company Zuffa is looking again to stomp on the grave of one of its former competitors as its been reported that the company is looking to acquire the IFL for 1 million dollars ( read this like Dr. Evil, and ….than laugh at 1. Zuffa for paying that much and 2. At the IFL for now being worth so little)

I was going to write a song to express my sorrow over this story, but instead I’ll just copy/paste a post I left on some other MMA forum web page filled with nerds like me

And I quote

“Anyone else seeing the problem with Zuffa again spending a lot of money for basically a film library of old IFL fights?

This is the same exact thing they did with Pride FC instead of letting it die on its own they waste their money on buying it out and get a handful of fighters plus the copy rights to some old Pride DVDs

memo to the Fertittas brothers and D White the IFL is dead in the water, wait a few months than low ball them on the film library and pick/choose which fighters you want to pick up to fill out your UFC/WEC roster

Those 6 IFL fighters + film library does not = 1 million or anything close to that

IMO waste of time by the Zuffa LLC. Team”

· - **** Big weekend for MMA fight cards. Affliction makes its debut live on pay per view. You know Affliction the t-shirt and clothing lifestyle company, the ones with the $70 t-shirts worn by guys 18-29 years old who are probably trying to compensate for something that they feel the need to wear $70 dollar t-shirt.

Well that company partnered with Donald Trump and decided to throw a MMA show together. To be honest, it’s a great card, with the number one heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko taking on former UFC champion Tim “the Manic” Sylvia in the night’s main event.

Those sneaky fellows over at the UFC believe in a free market economy and counter programmed Saturday night’s Affliction card with an event of their own free on Spike T.V.

Can you guess what’s going to happen? Hmm a country in a recession should I pay for a 39.99 for an unproven commodity on pay per view or should I watch the known leader in MMA’s free card on cable. But I’m not a business man so I guess Affliction could succeed. I will be petting my DVR and downloading Affliction fights on my lap top Sunday morning.

Viva la free MMA.

Hey Tommy what’s your opinion on that? Well I’m glad you asked.

§ Hey, why hasn’t the media been reporting about gas prices reaching a plateau, in some cases even going down? Do they only like to scare us?

§ 60 profile hits on myspace.com/ultmma yeah their kind of a big deal.

§ The Dark Knight hit theaters this weekend. Buzz around the Batman sequel centers around the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. You will see a lot of entertainment headlines reading “Ledger gives Oscar worthy portrayal”, the reason he won’t win an Oscar is because the people who vote on these type of traditional award ceremonies are so out of touch with the general public that they would be caught parking their own car before they would vote for (gasp!) a comic book film or even worse a Hollywood blockbuster.

§ After the one hour pregame show that began at 7 PM est., after the player introductions, after the hall of fame players got introduced, following the ceremonial first pitch by four Yankee hall of famers. The Major League Baseball mid-summer classic actually started their game at approximately 8:45 est. Tuesday night and wrapped up 1:30 AM Wednesday morning. Am I the only one who wanted to say “hey, baseball slow down there your going too fast. Take your time with something for once.” Sarcasm.

§ Are 914 words too long for only your second blog entry?

§ My dad will be on the 9:00 PM flight to Newark, New Jersey on Friday night to attend his childhood and best friend’s funeral on Saturday morning. Steve McDonough (spell check??) was a big guy, with even a bigger heart. We need more guys like him on this earth. Homework assignment is to hug your best friend extra tight. Best of luck on your golf game up in the clouds Uncle Steve.

I graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2007. It is now July 2008 and like many ASU alumni during this “recession” I have turned to the worldwide web for answers.

Wrapping it up you can find this aspiring sports writer/ PR professional/ creative marketing guy’s work at these websites:

www.sherdog.com
www.worldcombatleague.com
www.linkedin.com

and coming soon etc. etc.

Talk to you soon – Tom Messano